I’ve figured out a way to make the Windows 8 Start screen more like the traditional Windows Start menu. By adding shortcuts to the typical items you would find such as My Computer, or your User folder you can easily access them without too much difficulty.

In addition, I added shortcuts to the power options used for restart and shutdown, thanks to an article I found on How-to Geek. Just add shortcuts to the following commands:

Shutdown Computer

Shutdown.exe -s -t 00

Restart Computer

Shutdown.exe -r -t 00

You can use alternate icons by going to the properties window of these new shortcuts and selecting a new icon such as I have in the screenshot above.